The Bite by Brian Brown

 THE BITE. 

 When I was a teenager I met a man named Emerson. He operated a small cinder mine near the tiny town where I lived in the Mojave Desert. He scratched out a modest but successful living and supported his family, mining and shipping out truckloads of volcanic cinder for whatever purpose somewhere out there in the larger world. When we met it was short sleeve weather and I could not miss the prominent set of scars on his right forearm when he extended it to shake my hand. 

 There was no mistaking what they were; those were jaw marks. Two crescent shaped scars, one on the top and one on the bottom of of his muscular and sinewy arm. And so I asked him; What were those from? How did he get such dramatic marks? He smiled easily, unoffended, and told me the story. 

 To make a bit of extra money, he and some others would trap wild burros and sell them to slaughter houses, ostensibly for dog food. It was the 1960’s, no one cared about the desert, much less about a bunch of jackasses wandering around out there. It was perfectly legal and considered and enterprising way to supplement your income. 

 It was a relatively simple process. They would build a circular corral in burro country out of railroad ties or whatever was at hand. They would fashion a simple one - way gate that the burros could push open from the outside, but large springs on the hinges would shut it behind them so they could not get out. The trap was completed by putting a bale or two of hay inside, and most importantly, a full water trough. Then, they would just go away for several days and let the burros do the rest.

 Burros tend to travel in family groups or small herds, and eventually they would smell and find the corral and the goodies inside. They would wander around the outside, until one of them discovered that by simply leaning on the spring loaded gate it could get inside to the relative feast of sweet hay and a huge supply of water. One by one the others would follow, until the corral would be filled with the entire herd. There was no exit.

 A few days later the trappers would return with a large stock truck, load the asses in, and away they would go to the slaughter house somewhere, and the trappers would return home with their money. 

 The only dicey part was the actual loading process. The traps were constructed with loading chutes, a simple ramp with sturdy, high side rails that funneled the animals from the corral up into the stock truck. One of the trappers would climb into the corral opposite the loading chute, wave his arms, whistle, and generally try to spook the burros a bit. They would find the chute, consider it an escape route, and would literally run up into the waiting truck.

 Here’s the thing about wild burros; they fight back. Horses, when faced with a threat will usually panic and tear off in any direction, stampeding, presumably using their speed to get away from a threat. Wild burros may run for a little bit, but when overtaken they will sometimes turn and attack their pursuer. They bite, they kick, they stomp, they roll over on top of adversaries, whatever it takes to stop the threat. They are quite capable of maiming or even killing an attacker, including humans. Catching some wild ass in the desert may be the butt of a lot of jokes, but in reality they are no joke at all when cornered.

 So, one of the trappers climbs inside the corral and starts ushering the doomed animals toward the truck. All is going well, until one of the captives freezes in the loading chute and sits down, refusing to go forward or backwards, and jamming the process to a halt. No amount of yelling, cussing or swatting it with a cowboy hat will move the burro. Frustrated, Emerson climbs into the chute alone side the stubborn burro, determined to get it moving. With his left hand he grabs the burros tail, and he wraps his right arm under it’s neck and begins to yank forward on both ends. The burro bucks its’ head, and quickly reaches down and clamps onto Emerson’s forearm, and starts to bite. 

 The teeth quickly break through all of the dermis layers and into the muscle, and keep going. Those jaw muscles are tough and strong, used to browsing on tough, woody desert shrubs. Into and through the muscles from both sides, they are headed for the bones. They tug on the tendons connecting the muscles to the bones, and the grinding teeth just keep on grinding. The two jaws are headed for a rendezvous somewhere deep within his arm. Emerson can do nothing really except scream; he is trapped in there by the burros’ body weight, and the jaws slowly scissoring through his arm. 

After many agonizing seconds, he bends down and bites the burro, hard, on the soft end of it’s nose. The startled animal bucks and lets go, long enough for Emerson to throw himself over the side and out of the chute. His friends scramble to his aid; fortunately no big blood vessels appear to have been gouged, the bones had been missed, but there was lots of muscle damage and two grotesque jaw marks on his arm.

 They stop the bleeding and administer whatever first aid they can, and it becomes clear that Emerson will survive. The burro still sits contentedly in the loading chute, refusing to move.

 Emerson, once he is patched up and the excitement is over, isn’t done with this jackass. He goes to his truck, gets his 30 - 30 rifle , returns to the loading chute and shoots the burro in the head. No one objects. They drag the dead animal out of the chute and continue their task until it is complete. Emerson then butchers the burro, and that night they all eat it for dinner. True story. You know what they say about paybacks…

Haiku by Don Taco

Apropos of nothing, 

as is so often the case. 

A Liberal Arts education is its own reward.

 Allow me to wax analytical for a moment about my current favorite haiku, just for my own amusement, having recently stumbled upon it again, a form that many believe they grasp because they can count syllables, a belief I would equate to saying you understood a book you read because you remember the color of the cover, and, in fact, many of these people can't even count correctly in the first place, and fewer yet realize that the syllable count is nothing more than a poor attempt to translate this particular poetic form across a serious language barrier. But, hey, most of these people can't compose, rhyme, and scan a proper limerick, either, and that IS a simple form in their native language. 

 "Parody is easy, scansion is difficult." 

 Be that as it may.

 Your bangs are too short.

 Polar icecaps are melting. 

 Elvis is still dead.

 Immediately, I think, we are struck by the author's gloomy outlook. Does he dwell in a Murphy's Law universe where the worst that can happen will and has? Things are tough all over. Life sucks, then you die. Nothing positive or cheerful is present in these brief but clear images. Note that each line tersely presents a complete and definite thought, both visual and cerebral, begging the reader to make a connection between them. 

 Note also how the images beg the reader to cast about for allusions, associations, and connections to their own experience, a characteristic of all good poetry but particularly important to the sparse haiku form. Note, particularly, how the vision moves from the personal to the global to the cosmic, or cosmological, if you prefer. 

 In this, I think, the true beauty lies. Is the author making light of your troubles by trumping them with greater and greater issues? Is he illustrating that your troubles are reflected by the cosmos no matter at what scale you choose to examine it? Is he professing hopelessness on all fronts, or could he be saying that the closer to home the issue is, the more control you have over it? Impossible to say. Food for thought.

 Thanks for listening.

18 Writing Tips That Actually Make You a Better Writer

PLEASE NOTE: SCROLL  DOWN PAST BLANK SPACE TO FIND ARTICLE

 

18 Writing Tips That’ll Actually Make You a Better Writer (2021)

 Kevin J. Duncan    40 Comments   Dec 31, 2020

If you search Google for writing tips, you’ll find a lot of big promises.

The truth?

There’s no magical writing tip, trick, strategy, or hack capable of turning a bad writer into a good writer.

But if you want to learn how to write better, if you’re looking to up your writing game a level or two, a few good writing tips and tricks (combined with hard work) can help make it happen.

Here are 18 of our favorites:

1. Find Your Unique Voice

Serious question:

If we all listen to the same experts and we all follow the same writing advice, how is it possible for anyone to stand out from the crowd?

The trap many writers (especially young writers) fall into is they believe if they mimic a popular blogger or writer, they’ll be popular too.

Imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, but it’s a no-win proposition. Even if you succeed, you’ll be indistinguishable from all the other parrots out there.

There’s only one you. You have unique DNA. Your hopes, thoughts, and dreams are unique. Even the face you make when you accidentally walk into a spider web is unique.

Want to stand out?

Develop your own writing style. When you sit down to write, tap into what makes you… well, you.

Learn More: In my guest appearance on the Biz Mavens’ podcast, I discuss the importance of finding your unique voice and offer three writing exercises to help you find it.

2. Make Your Words Burst to Life in Readers’ Minds

If you aren’t using power words or sensory language in your writing, you’re missing out.

Smart writers and copywriters use power words to give their content extra punch, personality, and pizzazz. And great writers from Shakespeare to Stephen King to Ernest Hemingway use sensory words evoking sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell to paint strong scenes in the minds of their readers.

Both types of words are effective and super simple to use.

If you’re tired of lifeless words sitting on a page, try sprinkling power and sensory words throughout your content.

Learn More: Check out 801+ Power Words That Pack a Punch and Convert like Crazy and 583 Sensory Words to Take Your Writing from Bland to Brilliant. Besides being the definitive guides on their topics, they each offer huge, bookmarkable lists you can reference again and again.

3. Edit Like Crazy

Many first drafts are clumsy, sloppy, and difficult to read. This is true for most writers — even experienced, well-known ones.

So what separates great writing from the nondescript?

Editing.

The hard part isn’t over once your first draft is complete; on the contrary, it’s only beginning.

To take your work to the next level, you need to spend just as much time editing your words as you do creating them.

It’s ruthless work. It’s kind of boring. But it’s vital.

Learn More: Proofreading: 7 Editing Tips That’ll Make You a Better Writer in 2021 will show you the editing secrets popular bloggers and writers don’t want you to know. And if you need some tools to help you fix your writing, Grammarly and the Hemingway App are two good grammar checker options.

4. Supercharge Your Subheads

Most readers stick around for fewer than 15 seconds.

Heck, most will stick around for fewer than 5 seconds.

Why? Because readers are experts at scanning. They’ll click your headline, quickly scan your content, and — in only a few seconds — decide whether to stay or go.

Writing a great intro is one way to convince readers to stick.

Another?

Write masterful subheads that create curiosity, hook your readers, and keep them on the page long enough to realize your content is worth reading.

Learn More: In The Ultimate Guide to Writing Irresistible Subheads, Gary Korisko shares the four ingredients of a killer subhead.

5. Write Like Superman (Or That Guy You Know Who Types Really Fast)

Whether you’re blogging, crafting short stories, working on a creative writing assignment for your high school English class, or writing the backstory for what you hope will be a bestselling non-fiction novel; most of us are limited in the amount of time we have available to write.

So, if you want more time to write every day, you only have three options:

1. Say goodbye to your family and lock yourself in a room;
2. Invent a time machine;
3. Learn how to write faster.

Your spouse and children won’t like the first option, and the second option requires plutonium.

But the third option? That’s doable.

Learn More: Want some actionable tactics to boost your writing speed and up your word count? Check out Linda Formichelli’s How to Write Faster: 10 Crafty Ways to Hit 1,000 Words Per Hour.

6. Craft Irresistible Headlines

Smart Blogger’s CEO, Jon Morrow, recommends spending at least 20% of your time on the headline for your content.

That isn’t a typo.

If you spend 10 to 20 hours writing an article, 2 to 4 of those hours should be spent writing and re-writing the headline.

Why so many?

Because if your headline sucks, no one is going to give your content a chance.

In short:

Headlines are important. Practice writing them so you get really, really freakin’ good at them.

It’s a writing habit that’ll pay off again and again.

Learn More: In How to Write a Blog Post in 2021: The Ultimate Guide, Liz Longacre goes over the 8 rules for crafting amazing headlines. And in Write Headlines That Convert: 10 “Number Psychology” Tips! and 10 Ways to Exploit Human Nature and Write Amazingly Appealing Headlines, Barbara Sturm and Robert van Tongeren share tips for writing irresistibly-clickable headlines.

7. Avoid Weak, Filler Words

Too many writers dilute their writing with weak, empty words that bring nothing to the table.

Worse?

They silently erode your reader’s attention — one flabby word at a time.

Spot these weak words and eliminate them from your writing.

Learn More: In 298 Filler Words & Phrases That Rob Your Writing of Its Power, Shane Authur shows you how to eliminate the fluff from your prose. And if you want to learn more about the mechanics of language, The Elements of Style (by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White) and On Writing Well (by William Zinsser) are two good books.

8. Write with Rhythm

In digital media, short sentences and short paragraphs are your friends.

But that doesn’t mean every sentence and paragraph you write should be short.

Too many short sentences in a row and your writing will bore your readers. Too many long sentences in a row and you’ll overwhelm them.

So, mix things up.

Let the rhythm of your words dictate when each paragraph begins, and you’ll strike up the perfect balance between short paragraphs and long.

Learn More: In How to Write a Paragraph in 2021 (Yes, the Rules Have Changed), Mike Blankenship looks at paragraph and sentence structure and offers a few rules of thumb to follow.

9. Kick Writer’s Block in the Buttocks

When you’ve been staring at a blank page for what feels like hours, writer’s block can seem insurmountable.

It’s not.

Savvy writers have a collection of tried-and-true techniques and writing prompts to bust out whenever writer’s block starts to rear its ugly head — techniques ranging from turning off tweets, LinkedIn, and other social media to asking Alexa to play “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” by The Proclaimers.

If you want to be a better writer, find a writer’s block technique or two that works for you.

Learn More: Henneke Duistermaat has 27 refreshingly-original writer’s block techniques you can try. Pick a few favorites, and don’t be afraid to break glass in case of emergency.

10. Be Funny

Some writers won’t like this, but…

Your content can’t simply teach — it needs to entertain too.

Or, to put it bluntly:

If you don’t entertain while you inform, your audience will find a writer who does.

Thankfully, there are numerous ways you can make your content more interesting and entertaining.

The easiest way (and my favorite)? Sprinkle in a little humor.

Learn More: Marc Ensign’s How to Captivate Your Audience with Humor (Even If You Don’t Think You’re Funny) will show you how to be funny (without looking like you’re trying to be funny).

11. Write with Clarity

It doesn’t matter if you’ve banished the dreaded “passive voice” and your content oozes active voice. It doesn’t matter if you’ve put every comma and semicolon in just the right place. Heck, it doesn’t matter how amazing, profound, or revolutionary your ideas or word choices might be.

If you can’t express your thoughts in a clear, coherent way, you might as well have written your words in an ancient language no one understands.

Ask yourself this question:

Could I explain my content to someone in one sentence?

If the answer is no, your work is probably too complex. It’s time to simplify.

Learn More: In 20 Rules for Writing So Crystal Clear Even Your Dumbest Relative Will Understand, Smart Blogger’s former COO, Glen Long, shares his best tips for writing with clarity.

12. Master Transitional Words and Phrases

Do you want to keep your readers glued to your content?

Want your posts to be so effortless to read people can’t help but absorb every word as they glide down the page?

Experienced writers are meticulous about making each sentence flow seamlessly into the next, and they use transitional phrases to help make it happen.

If you want people to read your writing, from beginning to end, you need to do the same.

Learn More: Smart Blogger’s How to Use Transitional Words and Phrases to Make Your Writing Flow (with Examples) breaks down transitional phrases and how to use them to give audiences a smooth reading experience.

13. Learn SEO (Like a Boss)

Whether you write for yourself or as a hired hand, being able to create content that ranks on Google is a valuable skill.

(In fact, if you’re a freelance writer, companies and agencies will happily pay you extra for this skill.)

Consistently ranking on Google doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when you understand the basics of SEO — keyword research, user intent, UX signals, etc. — and purposefully create content with SEO in mind.

If you already know the basics of SEO, you have a leg up on the competition.

And if you don’t know the basics, you need to learn them.

The sooner, the better.

Learn More: Brian Dean of Backlinko has a thorough SEO resource list you should read. And if you’re a total beginner, my friends over at Ahrefs have a newbie-friendly SEO guide.

14. Sleep With Your Readers

Remember when I said subheads should create curiosity? This is a good example.

What keeps your audience awake at night? What has them tossing and turning at 2 o’clock in the morning?

Answer this question and then write about it.

Follow this one writing tip and you could (almost) ignore the rest.

Learn More: “Sleeping with readers” is one of the metaphor examples Jon used in his epic article, Copyblogger Editor Admits to Sleeping with Readers and Recommends You Do the Same. For more insight into why knowing what’s keeping your readers up at night is so important, give it a read.

15. Keep an Obsessively Detailed Log Book

Record details of your writing sessions in a notebook. After a few weeks, look for patterns.

Are you more effective writing in the mornings? Afternoons? Evenings? Are you better writing after your first cup of coffee or your fourth?

Find the method in your madness and use it to become a better writer.

16. Just Open the Darn Document (Then Keep Going)

Oftentimes, getting started is the hardest part about writing. So, start small. Just open the Google Doc or Microsoft Word document. Then write your first sentence.

Momentum will take it from there.

17. Throw Linear Writing Out the Window

Remember the movie Memento (aka The movie from Christopher Nolan that told its story in reverse)?

If you’re stuck on a piece of writing or simply need fresh eyes, try writing in a non-linear order.

Don’t start at the beginning of your post. Start in the middle. Or the end. Start with your last subhead. Or your seventh.

In short, mix up your writing process.

18. Challenge Yourself to Write in Weird Places

Having a designated writing space (especially when you’re working from home) is important.

However, writing in different places from time to time can spark creativity.

Give it a try.

Learn More: For a deeper look into the 4 unusual writing tips we just discussed (plus 6 more), check out 10 Unique Writing Tips You Absolutely Won’t Have Heard Anywhere Else Before from Ali Luke.

Back to Top

Now It’s Time to Put These Writing Tips Into Practice

Most who read this post will smile, nod their head in agreement, and implement precisely zero of these writing tips.

But not you.

You know knowledge that’s not put into practice is wasted. That’s why you’ve already picked out a few favorites, and it’s why you can’t wait to start writing.

On its own, even the best writing tip is incapable of teaching you how to write well or catapulting you to superstardom. But each one, little by little, can help you hone your writing skills.

So, are you ready to be a better writer? Ready to take what you know about the craft of writing and turn it up to 11? Ready to go from a good fiction writer (or blogger, or freelancer, or marketer, etc.) to a great one?

Then it’s time to get to work.

Let’s do this thing.

Share

Tweet

Pin

Share

Email

Kevin J. Duncan

Living the dream as Editor-in-Chief for Smart Blogger. Neglectful owner of Be A Better Blogger. Catch him online at @kevinjduncan and @smartbloggerhq, or at his personal website.

With over 300k subscribers and 4 million readers, Smart Blogger is one of the world's largest websites dedicated to writing and blogging. Learn more about us.

Free Training

A Roadmap for Getting Your First Freelance Writing Client

Learn

• Freelance Writing Hub
• Writing
• Content Marketing
• Make Money Online
• WordPress

About

• New? Start Here
• Blog
• Our Products
• Contact Us
• Podcast

Best of the Blog

• Freelance Writing Jobs
• Affiliate Marketing Guide
• How to Start a Blog
• Make Money Blogging
• 801+ Power Words
• Best Blogging Platforms
• How to Write a Blog Post
• Make Money Writing

Search for:

TOS | Privacy Policy | Refund Policy | Affiliate Disclosure
© 2012-2021 Smart Blogger — Boost Blog Traffic, Inc.

    

Share

Tweet

Pin

Share

Email